Chapters 28 through 35 give local prophecies that support the accuracy of the more global prophecies. Israel's two main concerns are the kingdom of Assyria in the east and Egypt in the west. The previous chapter interrupted these prophetic warnings with a promise of a future righteous king. Now we return to some warnings about Egypt and Assyria. This last "woe" continues until chapter 35, but includes, here, a promise of a new Jerusalem.
Woe to you, destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed!
Woe to you, betrayer,
you who have not been betrayed!
When you stop destroying,
you will be destroyed;
when you stop betraying,
you will be betrayed.
This warning begins with a promise: the destroyer will be destroyed, the betrayer betrayed.
LORD, be gracious to us;
we long for you.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of distress.
At the uproar of your army, the peoples flee;
when you rise up, the nations scatter.
Your plunder, O nations, is harvested as by young locusts;
like a swarm of locusts people pounce on it.
After a prophetic warning in verse 1, Isaiah turns to God with a plea, echoing the prayers of the psalms.
Isaiah 33:5-6, Filling Zion with justice
The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with his justice and righteousness.
He will be the sure foundation for your times,
a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.
The personal prayer to God becomes a statement, a promise that still God lives and still rules and will someday fill Jerusalem with justice.
Look, their brave men cry aloud in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
The highways are deserted,
no travelers are on the roads.
The treaty is broken,
its witnesses are despised,
no one is respected.
The land dries up and wastes away,
Lebanon is ashamed and withers;
Sharon is like the Arabah,
and Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves.
The diplomatic envoys have failed, a treaty broken and the land invaded and destroyed. Grogan sees this as the scene when Sennacherib surrounded Jerusalem in 2 Kings 19, about 701 BC.
The plain of Sharon, was a fertile area west of Samaria, running west to the Mediterranean. Its fertility and luscious blooms gave us the term "Rose of Sharon" in Song of Songs 2:1. Yet here it become like the is compared to the dry region of Arabah in the Negev desert. Meanwhile the trees of Bashan and Carmel drop their leaves. Bashan is far north and east of the Jordan while Carmel is on the west; together these two places represent the extent of Israel and Judah. If this destruction is literal, the encroaching army will cause environmental devastation.
Isaiah 33:10-13, Now!
“Now will I arise,” says the LORD.
“Now will I be exalted;
now will I be lifted up.
You conceive chaff,
you give birth to straw;
your breath is a fire that consumes you.
The peoples will be burned to ashes;
like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze.”
In verse 10, "Now" (attah) is emphasized three times, with force (says Grogan.) When YHWH finally rises up, the world is overthrown. Grogan says that this is Isaiah's statement about the outcome of Sennacherib's seige.
Motyer translates the last two lines as
"And the peoples will become conflagrations for lime:
thornbushes, chopped down, set ablaze with fire."
and notes that burning in lime would give an intense fire; the second line displays helplessness within the conflagration.
You who are far away, hear what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my power!
In typical Old Testament parallelism, YHWH calls out to those far away (Assyria?) and those nearby (Judah, Jerusalem?) Despite the slowness of time (as humans feel it), the nations will have to acknowledge His power.
Isaiah 33:14-16, Who can survive His fire?
The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
“Who of us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who of us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
Those who walk righteously
and speak what is right,
who reject gain from extortion
and keep their hands from accepting bribes,
who stop their ears against plots of murder
and shut their eyes against contemplating evil—
they are the ones who will dwell on the heights,
whose refuge will be the mountain fortress.
Their bread will be supplied,
and water will not fail them.
The people of Jerusalem (Zion) are challenged -- they are terrified by the coming judgment. Can anyone walk before God's consuming fire? Can anyone walk in His sanctuary. The answer here echoes Psalm 15. (See also Psalm 24:3-4.) The question/answer form is reminiscent of Proverbs or Psalms. (See the previous chapter, 32:3-8, for a similar echo of Proverbs.)
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty
and view a land that stretches afar.
In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:
“Where is that chief officer?
Where is the one who took the revenue?
Where is the officer in charge of the towers?”
You will see those arrogant people no more,
people whose speech is obscure,
whose language is strange and incomprehensible.
The chapter alternates between prophecy and prayer, between prediction and praise. Here the people rejoice in the beauty and majesty of the king and in the absence of arrogant leaders. Surely the king is not Hezekiah, but likely the future righteous king of chapter 32.
Isaiah 33:20-24, A future time
Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes broken.
There the LORD will be our Mighty One.
It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.
No galley with oars will ride them,
no mighty ship will sail them.
For the LORD is our judge,
the LORD is our lawgiver,
the LORD is our king;
it is he who will save us.
Your rigging hangs loose:
The mast is not held secure,
the sail is not spread.
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided
and even the lame will carry off plunder.
No one living in Zion will say, “I am ill”;
and the sins of those who dwell there will be forgiven.
The city of Zion will be a peaceful place, without violence. There will be justice.
Grogan says that the description of YHWH in verse 22, judge, lawgiver, king, echo periods of Israel's history, with Moses as lawgiver in the Exodus, then the period of judges followed by the period of kings; in each period it is really YHWH who was judge, lawgiver, king.
The passage runs with strange metaphors. Jerusalem, far from the sea, is a place of "broad rivers and streams". It is a tent "that will not be moved". No might yship comes nearby and those who rely on the sea (Assyria?) have loose riggings and insecure mast and sails.
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